The present invention relates to an icebreaking ship hull with devices for improving the maneuverability of the vessel and deals more particularly with a ship's hull having laterally projecting hull components arranged on the vessels side wall. These projections are preferably arranged at the widest point of the vessel's underwater hull, and may be retracted into recesses in the hull.
Icebreaking hulls generally have been provided with ice fracturing or cutting edges such edges generally extend in a longitudinal direction relative to the vessels center line and are generally provided at the bow of the vessel. Movable hull components have been suggested as a solution to the problem of an icebreaker operating in a narrow channel environment, and also to permit operation in narrow locks or in negotiating a curved channel. If the typical icebreaker is required to break out of the main channel to provide an auxiliary channel for bringing relief to vessels in a convoy or the like such movable hull components can be quite useful.